Daniel
by Plymouthdodgewrecks
Summary: An eighteen year old boy adjusts to his new life. The USA has changed a lot since his three day long sleep.
1. Humble Beginnings

**Hey guys, sorry about how terrible a writer I am. Any constructive criticism is appreciated. Sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes.**

I got up from the computer and headed to the kitchen to grab a snack. As soon as I left the room, however, I saw a most horrid being in the kitchen. It looked like an average man at first glance, however it had horrifically large boils on its face, and several slimy appendages, some of them about a foot long. It wandered aimlessly around the kitchen, occasionally grabbing miscellaneous objects off of the counters with its worm-like tongues. It coughed violenty every few seconds.

I was so horrified it took me a few minutes to realize there was maniacal laughter coming from outside the window, somewhere in the back yard. I cautiously crawled over to the window.

As I peered out into the yard, I noticed several people standing idly in the street, all appearing sickly and drunken. I couldn't quite make out there faces,  
>as the street lights were off, which was strange considering it was two O' clock in the morning.<p>

I spotted what seemed to be the source of the laughter. It looked almost like a spider monkey with an impossibly hunched back and large claws that shivered quickly. The strange creature ran around the yard, occasionally slashing at the brain dead people in the street. I heard what seemed to be crying, and upon searching for it, I saw a thin woman, about twenty years old, sitting in the street, her blonde hair greasy and matted. She had humongous claws which covered her face.

Suddenly, I noticed the laughing hunchback had disappeared from view, although I could still hear it. I pressed my nose against the window to get a better view of the yard.

What happened next frightened me more than anything I had ever experienced in my eighteen years.

A face appeared in the window, if you could call it a face. It had glowing yellow eyes with a demented look to them. It had almost no hair, and its remaining hair looked like it used to be a bright orange, but it was now so covered in dust and blood it had became very dull. It had yellow eyes that were extremely crooked, and I could tell it was smiling even though the skin around its mouth was gone completely.

I jumped back, careful to do so quietly so as not to alert the coughing man in the kitchen. The monkey-like creature, still laughing, raised a hand almost comically and slowly pointed its index finger straight upwards. Then, quick as a flash, he jabbed at the window with the finger. The glass shattered, and the Whatever-It-Was jumped into the room and lunged at me.

Now, I couldn't see anything, so I felt around. It seemed that the creature was on my head, standing on my shoulders, covering my eyes with its large hands.  
>Every now and then it would lift a demented claw up and slash me across the face with it. I had to hold back screams of pain, for fear of attracted more of these mutants.<p>

Suddenly, I felt something long and slimy grip my torso and pull me backwards. It felt like a cross between a snake and a slug. I soon saw that is was one of the appendages of the thing with boils in the kitchen, however, as almost immediately after the tongue grabbed me the maniacal creature jumped off my head and sprinted out the window, back into the night.

As I was pulled across the hall and into the kitchen, the front door opened, and two men entered. These men, however, were not mutated in the slightest, and they seemed safe (although the fact that they had guns frightened me). The one in front had a white suit with a blue undershirt, and short black hair. The one following him had a baseball cap, a beige T-Shirt and jeans.

The one in the suit quickly raised his shotgun and a few feet behind me, firing towards the sink. I heard a weak cough and the grip of the tongue slackened as I fell to the ground, a green puff of smoke floating near the boil covered being's body.

"Come on, help him up." Said the man in the suit.  
>"On it." Said the man with the cap in a thick Southern accent. He then walked over to me and helped me up, as the suited man said "Name's Nick. This is Ellis.<br>You are...?"  
>"D-d-d-daniel," I replied, extremely shaken up by what had just happened. "Th-th-th-thank y-y-y-you. W-w-what was that th-th-thing?"<br>"That was a Smoker right there," replied Ellis. "Them things go and grab ya with there tongues and reel ya in like fish. Ya never wanna-"  
>Nick cut him off.<br>"Wait, you've never met one of those slimy bastards? How long have you been aware of this damn disease?"  
>Disease? I'd never heard of any disease. Then again, I didn't sleep for all of last week, so maybe this happened during that full three days of sleep I got.<br>I just woke up an hour ago and went to the computer, I didn't notice anything strange until I saw the Smoker.  
>"So you mean the insane monkey and the crying woman are part of this thing?" I said, my intelligence converted to shock.<p>

A somewhat overweight African-American man with a purple sports shirt slowly walked in holding a bloody chainsaw.  
>"Hell yeah, dem Jockies are some insane little things, and the cryin' ones, Witches, they don't do nothing 'till ya 'tack 'em, but when ya do...Watch ya ass."<br>He paused for a second, then said, "Oh, right, call me Coach. I'd 'ntroduce Rochelle, but she's out there holding off the Infected.

As soon as he finished, a terrifying, demonic scream came from outside, followed by slashing noises and a woman screaming for help.

"Aw, shit, Hun'er!" Ellis said, as he and Coach ran outside to help.  
>"Well, let's go. Here's a medkit, here's a pistol. That's all you'll need."<p>

Bewildered, I took the items and strapped the first aid kit to my back. I pulled my pistol out and followed Nick outside to help.

On the ground was a body of a gray skinned teenager wearing a hoodie, eyes covered by the hood, his bloody mouth still open. I figured it was dead, so there was no need to shoot it.

I was incorrect, however, because seconds later I heard another demonic scream, and I was pushed to the ground, the hooded mutant tearing at my insides.  
>Ellis pulled a fire axe from his back and sliced the thing's (A Hunter, he called it?) head clean off, the blood spattering my face. I got up, heart beating so hard I expected it to burst from my chest, and felt the ground shake. The being that rushed towards us is something I will never forget.<p>

-  
><strong>There you have it, chapter one. Should I continue?<strong>


	2. The Tank

**Okay, so I couldn't help myself, and I wrote chapters two and three. **

It was a most terrifying sight. A creature that walked like a Gorilla came barreling toward us. It appeared to be comprised almost entirely of muscle, and at first glance its lower jaw appeared to be missing, however I quickly realized its jaw was enveloped in its chest due to its extreme muscle. It grunted like (I can't help at myself for thinking this) an angry, stressed, office worker. It roared and snarled, throwing aside the "Common" Infected (As Coach later told me on that they were called this) and it charged full throttle in our direction.

"TAAAAAAAAAAANK!" The others yelled, a look of terror on Ellis, Rochelle and Coach's faces, one of pure annoyance on Nick's. They fired their weapons at the enourmous beast, as Ellis pulled a molotov cocktail from his pocket and lobbed it at the "Tank". It immediately set fire, but simply shrugged it off as if nothing had happened.

It drew back a huge fist (which was three times as large as my own head) and quickly punched Nick in the stomach. The con man went flying across my yard as he yelled in pain.

The Tank then turned its attention towards me, drawing back its other fist, aiming for my torso, about to do to me what he had done to Nick. I suddenly felt the wind knocked out of me as I flew back and hit the wall, my entire back side stinging. I fell to the floor, grasping my stomach.

Eventually, the giant fell to the ground, a final, dissapointed roar bellowing from its mouth. I got up, and aside from the three or four Commons currently sprinting at us, everything was quiet. That is, until, I heard what sounded like a train horn getting closer, and I was suddenly swept off the ground, my ribcage crushed by a giant, calloused hand. I was then smashed again the ground twice, before the hand released me and I fell over on the ground.

"That's a Charger," said Rochelle nonchalantly. "We better get going now."

We ran into a few Commons, but it was, for the most part, peaceful. Until, that is, I heard gurgling and an impossibly bloated man jumped in front of us and puked directly onto us. I was blinding, And I could only make out vague shapes. I heard an explosion, and Right after Nick said "Got it", I felt about twelve pair of hands clawing at me. I couldn't fight back as I had been blinded, so I had to wait for my teammates to kill them.

Finally, the puke faded from my vision, and I could see once again. Before I could ask, Coach replied "Boomer." Seemed a fitting name for such a thing,

"Are there any other..."Special" Infected I don't know about? I'd like to know what each does before encountering it."

"Jus' one," Ellis said," It's called a-SPITTER!"

I felt a terrible stinging sensation as I doubled over in pain, a long necked woman with her entire mouth gone looming over me. She quickly fell over as she was shot in the head by Coach. I realized I was lying in acid. I frantically tried to get up, but the goo quickly faded away. Ellis helped me up as he said quietly,

"An' that's all thuh special ones."

"Congrats, kid," Said Nick in with a sneer, "You know all the Special Infected. Want your damn cookie now?"

Coach glared at Nick as he told him off, saying how I was new and I should be treated with respect. I asked Ellis and Rochelle where we were headed, since I honestly had no idea.

"We're heading down to an evac center just a few miles North," replied Rochelle. "It should take about three to four days to get there, so we'll need all the help we can get."

My neighborhood was rather small. I lived in the suburbs, and, as such, it wasn't hard to spot many Infected over the small houses. We traveled for a half a day before Coach finally stopped and said "It's gettin' dark. Let's find a place to sleep for thuh nigh', and we'll keep walking tomorrah."

I was glad to finally get some sleep, but sleeping in a zombie infested suburb wasn't exactly ideal for safety. We did manage to find an abandoned house with two stories, however, so we set up camp in the attic.

This was going to be a long journey.

**Okay, sorry, I rushed this chapter. I'll take my time with chapters in the future.**


	3. Smokers In The Suburbs

**This story doesn't just use Daniel's perspective. Here's a chapter from a very different character.**

** _ Ryan_**

After three days, the second group of survivors appeared to have taken in a new member. It was good, new survivors meant less skill. We could pick him off much more easily than the rest of them.  
>As a Smoker, I attempt to pull survivors away from the group. I was thankful they hadn't killed me yet. Every time I grabbed one, they always shot my tongue, never me. We had been tracking two seperate groups of survivors, and if we didn't stop one group, they were going to meet up soon. Nine survivors certainly wouldn't be good.<p>

I crouched behind the chimney of the tallest house I could find with fellow Smoker Kevin. Kevin was a good friend of mine, so we generally hid on top of the same building, and helped each other out if need be.

"Hey, Ryan, you ready?" He whispered to me. We Infected can't speak English, so we communicate in our own language of grunts and snarls.  
>I nodded my head and looked down the road, spotting the first group of survivors. There was the old man in the military clothing, there was the brunette woman in the red jacket, there was the biker with the shaved head, there was the office worker with the red tie.<p>

As they passed by, I quickly grabbed biker (From what I heard the humans say, his name was Francis, or something similar) and reeled him in, as Kevin went for the office worker (Louis, I believe?) and pulled him in. The woman (Zoey?) and the older man (Bill?) quickly turned around and fired at our tongues. Bill managed to get a few bullets into Kevin's shoulder, but other than that we were fine. We heard the two men gasp for breath as they dropped, and I couldn't help but laugh.

Suddenly, a Hunter jumped front the building across from us, landing directly on top of Francis. He struck the biker twice before getting about six bullets in his skull.

Kevin yelled "EMO LITTLE BITCH!" SCRAWNY-ASS!" "RETARDED FROG!" among other insults at the Hunter's body. This only drew attention to him, however, and the four survivors fired away at him. He quickly fell on his knees, clutching his chest, which Bill and emptied an entire AK-47 clip in to.

"Get up, you can walk it off." I snarled, furious at how we had done so little to them. We decided to move on to the second group. However, they were just down the street, and unless they simply dropped dead, they would meet up with the first group. We had to stop them by any means possible.

** _ Daniel_**

****We spotted four figures about three blocks down, and they were most certainly not mutants. We quickly ran to meet them. Before we could alert them, however,

a Charger grabbed Coach, a Jockey took Ellis, Rochelle was pinned by a Hunter, Nick was taken by a Smoker, and another Smoker took me.

We were all pinned, and the other group down the block was our only hope.

**Wow, this is perhaps the most generic and boring story on this site. I really need to get better at writing these things. Please, tell me what I need to improve on.**


	4. Two As One

**Hey, everyone, here's chapter four. I'd just like to thank Fantasmala for the extremely helpful review.**

**About the first point, I'm terribly sorry about that. Because I'm sort of writing as I go, I tend to subconsciously switch to the present tense.**

**Two: I feel like I rushed the introduction of all the Special Infected far too quickly, and I didn't get to explain them like anything other than "Terrible creatures", so I'll make sure to get better at descriptions.**

**Three: I really dislike profanity myself, but I felt like it was part of Left 4 Dead, particularly Nick. The part where Kevin the Smoker started spraying curses at the dead Hunter I did feel was a little over the top, and I forgot I had made it K+ so I started adding more profanity, not realizing what I had rated it until later.**

**Overall, your review was very, VERY helpful. Thanks for all the advice, and I hope you try and stick with the story as best you can before getting bored. :)**

_**Ryan **_

Kevin and I continued to pull the two survivors, furiously tightening our grip on them, their lives in our hands. If we could just hold on a little longer-

Nope. The first group heard the one in the white suit's enraged outbursts and opened fire on all of us. The Hunter, Charger and Jockey were all shot to death, I got shot on the side of my face, popping several boils, while Kevin got away Scot-Free. We hid behind the chimney on the small house. After we thought the coast was clear, we heard gurgling. Oh no, oh no no no no no-

A Boomer made his way onto the small, unstable roof. His extreme weight, coupled with both Kevin's and mine, made the roof give in, causing us all to fall inside the house. The Boomer exploded, spraying putrid bile all around the room, alerting a horde of Commons as always. I stood in thought as Kevin, having landed on a kitchen knife, clutched the large gash in his knee. The Commons broke down the door, running towards the area where the Boomer had exploded. One ran straight into me and starting clawing at me. I grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up, snapping his neck as I walked out the back door into the forest behind the house,  
>which was absolutely crawling with Infected of all kinds.<p>

The two groups had now met up. They were all one, now. This wasn't good at all.

_**Daniel **_

The four who had saved us promptly gave us their names, and we gave them ours in return. They seemed fairly nice, save for Francis, the wisecracking biker. Bill's constant "cut your damn hair, you look like a hippie" was a tad annoying, but regardless they made a great first impression.

"Where're you folks headed up to?" Asked Bill, lighting a cigar.  
>"We was headed to th' evac centah up North," Answered Coach. Louis perked his head up. "Really? We were headed there too, we had just-"<br>Ellis, obviously, wasn't paying attention. "I ever tell you 'bout th' time me and mah buddy Keith went down to the local skatin' park and he done gone and got his foot cut off by a wil' racoon? It was like, fort times bigger den a-"

Nick wacked Ellis in the stomach with the butt of his shotgun, causing the Southerner to yelp and fall to the ground.  
>"Remind me why we keep the hillbilly around, again?"<p>

Everyone ignored him, continuing the conversation.

Nobody realized Ellis hadn't gotten up.

_**Ellis**_

I opened my eyes, the pain finally subsiding. The hit had hurt so much, I hadn't realized the rest had walked off without me. I couldn't see them anywhere. The place seemed a good deal more dead and eerie now that I was alone. I heard a strange, high-pitched gurgling and saw a mouthless head with an elongated neck darting behind cars and building.

"Spitter." I mumbled to myself, almost forgetting I didn't need to call it out now. I raised my magnum, pointing in random directions. Suddenly, I heard a frustrated yell, followed by a loud noise which sounded like a possessed cow. I felt a huge hand grab my torso and I was thrusted into a wall and repeatedly thrown against the ground. I was charged, and completely alone, nobody to save me from the thing.


	5. Holding Out For The Broken Man

**Wow, look at all those reviews! Oh, wait. I have two, both from the same person. Regardless, thanks for at least taking the time to read this, Fantas. Really appreciate it. I'll try making future chapters longer.**

**Also, twenty obscure reference points if you can guess where Bill's retort to Francis about retreating comes from. Another ten if you know where the Huntress' name is from.**

_**Ellis**_

After what felt like hours, I felt the Charger release me. He must have heard something and gone to bash the crap out of it. I wanted to get up, but my legs refused to. My arms were wet noodles. I was pretty sure I'd broken my...Hell, I think I broke everything. I prayed the others would notice I was gone before some other Infected came around.

It was highly unusual, how few Commons there were around here. There were usually about ten within six feet of us, but here, in Daniel's town, it was a surprise to find more than four down one street. Must have not been a very populated place before the apocalypse. The pain the Charger had inflicted was too much, though,  
>so I couldn't think for too long. I just layed in wait for rescue, hoping to God I wouldn't die out here. I promised I would never tell another Keith story again.<p>

...Within whacking range of Nick, that is.

_**Daniel **_

As we walked on, Coach and Bill fighting over the map Francis had found, Zoey called out something that made us all stop dead.

"Where's Ellis?"

We looked around, stunned to see the Georgian was nowhere to be found. Coach ordered us to go back for him. Francis said that it would be considered retreating (something which Bill was against no matter the situation), to which the old war veteran replied "Son, we ain't retreatin'. We are advancing in a different direction."

"Aaaaaamen." Said Coach.

We walked back a few blocks, only to spot a bruised, bloody, twisted, mud covered body lying in front of a balcony. The rain which had just begun made it look oven more like some clich horror movie. We say Ellis' cap a few feet away, and immediately knew who it was.

We ran to help, but he was too beaten up to move, and it'd take at least two days before he was well enough to travel. We decided to hold in the largest house we could find (a two story duplex) and we would stay there until Ellis had fully healed. As soon as we walked into the house, we knew something was upstairs due to the footsteps. And, judging by the violent coughing, we knew exactly what it was.

Louis and I quickly ran up the stairs to kill the Smoker, however it was climbing out the window by the time we got up. There was something strange about this particular Smoker, though. It had slightly longer and more tamed hair than the average Smoker. It looked as if it continued to take care of its hair even as a mutant. It also had a black, unbuttoned overshirt which covered its arms up to its wrists. Its boils weren't quite as bulbous as the norm and there were fewer.

We shot at it as it ran down the street, dodging bullets left and right.

_**Ryan**_

I couldn't believe I made it out of there in time. I ducked into an alley as the bullets stopped flying past me. I may not be able to speak English, but I can still understand it. I heard their plan, hiding out in that house. I quickly ran to alert the nearest Tank I could find, telling any Specials and Commons I passed on the way. For the first time ever, the Infected were actually going to have an actual plan. We were going to invade that house, together.

I noticed Kevin attempting to flirt with a Huntress, constantly getting slashed across the face, but still trying. I smacked my forehead as I ran over to Kevin and the Huntress and told them about our assault. As I finished, Kevin got as far as "So, Shaundi, wanna-" before she strangled him until he passed out.  
>I told her to meet with the rest of us at the fountain in the park two blocks from the survivor house.<p>

_**Nick **_

As I looked over-Hold on, I gotta take this. Hello? ... Yes? ... What? What do you mean we don't have time for my perspective! ... Oh fine, but I better get a part in the next goddamn chapter. I haven't even had one, the kid and the Smoker have, like, six or seven each.

**Okay, sorry, that ending was my failed attempt at putting humor in to this story. Sorry about that.**


End file.
